Data centers typically comprise a large number of servers and other communications equipment. Data center equipment may be managed either locally or remotely. In instances where local management is used, the data center equipment may be connected to console terminals having a screen for video and a keyboard for user input, or using a legacy serial port where the user input and the console output go through the same serial connection. When remote management is used, the equipment may be connected via a communications network to a remote management terminal. The remote management terminal may be used by administrators to remotely modify configuration settings of the data center equipment over the communications network. In some instances, however, software running on data center equipment may lack remote management capabilities. Such software may be capable of local input/output (I/O) only, such as via a serial port, and it may necessitate network administrators to physically walk up to the equipment executing the software and use a console to make changes to the software's configuration. Administering software in such a manner may be costlier and more time consuming than administering software remotely.
Existing methods for providing remote access may utilize a “BMC” (baseboard management controller) which itself knows how to act as a real video device and/or as a serial port. FIGS. 4 and 5 described below are examples BMC's of the prior art. These devices also contain logic that knows how to proxy through another interface (like network) so that one could have remote access to the real video device or real serial port.